diff --git a/Control/Pipe/Binary.hs b/Control/Pipe/Binary.hs
--- a/Control/Pipe/Binary.hs
+++ b/Control/Pipe/Binary.hs
@@ -42,14 +42,13 @@
       eof <- lift . liftIO $ hIsEOF h
       unless eof $ do
         chunk <- lift . liftIO $ B.hGetSome h 4096
-        -- lift . liftIO . putStrLn $ "chunk size " ++ show (B.length chunk)
         yield chunk
         go
 
 -- | Write data to a file.
 --
 -- The file is only opened if some data arrives into the pipe.
-fileWriter :: MonadIO m => FilePath -> Pipe B.ByteString Void m ()
+fileWriter :: MonadIO m => FilePath -> Pipe B.ByteString Void m r
 fileWriter path = do
   -- receive some data before opening the handle
   input <- await
@@ -62,10 +61,9 @@
       handleWriter
 
 -- | Write data to a handle.
-handleWriter:: MonadIO m => Handle -> Pipe B.ByteString Void m ()
+handleWriter:: MonadIO m => Handle -> Pipe B.ByteString Void m r
 handleWriter h = forever $ do
   chunk <- await
-  -- lift . liftIO . putStrLn $ "writing chunk " ++ show (B.length chunk)
   lift . liftIO . B.hPut h $ chunk
 
 -- | Act as an identity for the first 'n' bytes, then terminate returning the
diff --git a/bench/general.hs b/bench/general.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bench/general.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+import Criterion.Main
+import qualified Data.Conduit as C
+import qualified Data.Conduit.List as CL
+import qualified Data.Conduit.Binary as CB
+
+import Control.Pipe.Binary
+import Control.Pipe.Combinators
+import Control.Pipe
+
+testFile :: FilePath
+testFile = "bench/general.hs"
+
+main :: IO ()
+main = defaultMain
+    [ bench "bigsum-pipes" (whnfIO $ runPipe $ (mapM_ yield [1..1000 :: Int] >> return 0) >+> fold (+) 0)
+    , bench "bigsum-conduit" (whnfIO $ C.runResourceT $ CL.sourceList [1..1000 :: Int] C.$$ CL.fold (+) 0)
+    , bench "fileread-pipes" (whnfIO $ runPipe $ fileReader testFile >+> discard)
+    , bench "fileread-conduit" (whnfIO $ C.runResourceT $ CB.sourceFile testFile C.$$ CL.sinkNull)
+    , bench "map-pipes" (whnfIO $ runPipe $ (mapM_ yield [1..1000 :: Int] >> return 0) >+> pipe (+1) >+> fold (+) 0)
+    , bench "map-conduit" (whnfIO $ C.runResourceT $ CL.sourceList [1..1000 :: Int] C.$= CL.map (+ 1) C.$$ CL.fold (+) 0)
+    ]
diff --git a/bench/simple.hs b/bench/simple.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bench/simple.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+import Criterion.Main
+
+import Control.Monad
+import Control.Monad.Trans.Class
+import Control.Pipe
+import System.IO
+
+printer :: Show a => Handle -> Pipe a x IO r
+printer h = forever $ await >>= lift . hPutStrLn h . show
+
+devnull :: IO Handle
+devnull = openFile "/dev/null" WriteMode
+
+main :: IO ()
+main = do
+    h <- devnull
+    defaultMain
+      [ bench "list >+> printer (1000)" (whnfIO $ runPipe $ mapM_ yield [1..1000 :: Int] >+> printer h)
+      , bench "mapM_ print (1000)" (whnfIO $ mapM_ (hPutStrLn h . show) [1..1000 :: Int])
+      , bench "list >+> printer (100000)" (whnfIO $ runPipe $ mapM_ yield [1..100000 :: Int] >+> printer h)
+      , bench "mapM_ print (100000)" (whnfIO $ mapM_ (hPutStrLn h . show) [1..100000 :: Int])
+      ]
+
diff --git a/bench/zlib.hs b/bench/zlib.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bench/zlib.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-}
+import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy as L
+import qualified Codec.Compression.GZip as GZip
+import Criterion.Main
+import qualified Data.Conduit as C
+import qualified Data.Conduit.Binary as CB
+import qualified Data.Conduit.Zlib as CZ
+import qualified Data.Enumerator as E
+import qualified Data.Enumerator.Binary as EB
+import qualified Codec.Zlib.Enum as EZ
+import qualified System.IO as SIO
+
+import Control.Pipe
+import qualified Control.Pipe.Binary as PB
+import qualified Control.Pipe.Zlib as PZ
+
+filePath :: FilePath
+filePath = "bench/sample.gz"
+
+tmpFile :: FilePath
+tmpFile = "dist/build/autogen/bench-tmp"
+
+lazyIO :: IO ()
+lazyIO = do
+    compressed <- L.readFile filePath
+    L.writeFile tmpFile $ GZip.decompress compressed
+
+conduits1 :: IO ()
+conduits1 = C.runResourceT
+    $ CB.sourceFile filePath
+    C.$$ CZ.ungzip
+    C.=$ CB.sinkFile tmpFile
+
+conduits2 :: IO ()
+conduits2 = C.runResourceT
+    $ CB.sourceFile filePath
+    C.$= CZ.ungzip
+    C.$$ CB.sinkFile tmpFile
+
+enumerator :: IO ()
+enumerator = SIO.withBinaryFile tmpFile SIO.WriteMode $ \h -> E.run_
+    $ EB.enumFile filePath
+    E.$$ EZ.ungzip
+    E.=$ EB.iterHandle h
+
+pipes :: IO ()
+pipes = runPipe
+  $ PB.fileReader filePath
+  >+> PZ.gunzip
+  >+> PB.fileWriter tmpFile
+
+main :: IO ()
+main = defaultMain
+    [ bench "pipes" pipes
+    , bench "conduits1" conduits1
+    , bench "conduits2" conduits2
+    , bench "enumerator1" enumerator
+    , bench "lazyIO" lazyIO
+    ]
+
diff --git a/examples/compress.hs b/examples/compress.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/compress.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+import Control.Pipe
+import Control.Pipe.Binary
+import Control.Pipe.Zlib
+import System.IO
+
+main :: IO ()
+main = runPipe $
+  handleReader stdin >+> gzip >+> handleWriter stdout
diff --git a/examples/decompress.hs b/examples/decompress.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/decompress.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+import Control.Pipe
+import Control.Pipe.Binary
+import Control.Pipe.Zlib
+import System.IO
+
+main :: IO ()
+main = runPipe $
+  handleReader stdin >+> gunzip >+> handleWriter stdout
diff --git a/examples/telnet.hs b/examples/telnet.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/telnet.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+import Control.Concurrent (forkIO)
+import qualified Control.Exception as E
+import Control.Pipe
+import Control.Pipe.Binary
+import Network (connectTo, PortID (..))
+import System.Environment (getArgs, getProgName)
+import System.IO
+
+
+main :: IO ()
+main = do
+    args <- getArgs
+    case args of
+        [host, port] -> telnet host (read port :: Int)
+        _ -> usageExit
+  where
+    usageExit = do
+        name <- getProgName
+        putStrLn $ "Usage : " ++ name ++ " host port"
+
+hConnect :: Handle -> Handle -> IO ()
+hConnect h1 h2 = runPipe $ handleReader h1 >+> handleWriter h2
+
+telnet :: String -> Int -> IO ()
+telnet host port = E.bracket
+    (connectTo host (PortNumber (fromIntegral port)))
+    hClose
+    (\hsock -> do
+      mapM_ (`hSetBuffering` LineBuffering) [ stdin, stdout, hsock ]
+      _ <- forkIO $ hConnect stdin hsock
+      hConnect hsock stdout)
diff --git a/pipes-extra.cabal b/pipes-extra.cabal
--- a/pipes-extra.cabal
+++ b/pipes-extra.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name: pipes-extra
-Version: 0.1.0
+Version: 0.2.0
 License: BSD3
 License-file: LICENSE
 Author: Paolo Capriotti
@@ -10,12 +10,16 @@
 Build-type: Simple
 Synopsis: Various basic utilities for Pipes.
 Description: This module contains basic utilities for Pipes to deal with files and chunked binary data, as well as extra combinators like 'zip' and 'tee'.
-Cabal-version: >=1.8
+Cabal-version: >= 1.8
 
 Source-Repository head
     Type: git
     Location: https://github.com/pcapriotti/pipes-extra
 
+flag examples
+    description: Build executables for the examples
+    default: False
+
 Library
     Build-Depends:
         base (== 4.*),
@@ -28,3 +32,87 @@
         Control.Pipe.PutbackPipe,
         Control.Pipe.Tee,
         Control.Pipe.Zip
+
+benchmark bench-general
+    type: exitcode-stdio-1.0
+    hs-source-dirs: . bench
+    main-is: general.hs
+    build-depends: base == 4.*
+                 , pipes-core == 0.1.*
+                 , bytestring == 0.9.*
+                 , transformers >= 0.2 && < 0.4
+                 , conduit == 0.4.*
+                 , criterion == 0.6.*
+
+benchmark bench-simple
+    type: exitcode-stdio-1.0
+    hs-source-dirs: . bench
+    main-is: simple.hs
+    build-depends: base == 4.*
+                 , pipes-core == 0.1.*
+                 , transformers >= 0.2 && < 0.4
+                 , criterion == 0.6.*
+
+benchmark bench-zlib
+    type: exitcode-stdio-1.0
+    hs-source-dirs: . bench
+    main-is: zlib.hs
+    build-depends: base == 4.*
+                 , pipes-core == 0.1.*
+                 , pipes-zlib < 0.2
+                 , bytestring == 0.9.*
+                 , transformers >= 0.2 && < 0.4
+                 , enumerator == 0.4.*
+                 , zlib-enum == 0.2.*
+                 , conduit == 0.4.*
+                 , zlib-conduit == 0.4.*
+                 , zlib == 0.5.*
+                 , criterion == 0.6.*
+
+Executable telnet
+    if flag(examples)
+        build-depends: base == 4.*
+                     , pipes-core == 0.1.*
+                     , pipes-extra >= 0.1 && < 0.3
+                     , transformers == 0.3.*
+                     , network == 2.3.*
+    else
+        buildable: False
+    hs-source-dirs: examples
+    main-is: telnet.hs
+
+Executable compress
+    if flag(examples)
+        build-depends: base == 4.*
+                     , pipes-core == 0.1.*
+                     , pipes-extra >= 0.1 && < 0.3
+                     , pipes-zlib < 0.2
+    else
+        buildable: False
+    hs-source-dirs: examples
+    main-is: compress.hs
+
+Executable decompress
+    if flag(examples)
+        build-depends: base == 4.*
+                     , pipes-core == 0.1.*
+                     , pipes-extra >= 0.1 && < 0.3
+                     , pipes-zlib < 0.2
+    else
+        buildable: False
+    hs-source-dirs: examples
+    main-is: decompress.hs
+
+test-suite tests
+  type: exitcode-stdio-1.0
+  hs-source-dirs: tests
+  main-is: Tests.hs
+  build-depends: base >= 4 && < 5
+               , HUnit == 1.2.*
+               , bytestring == 0.9.*
+               , test-framework == 0.6.*
+               , test-framework-hunit == 0.2.*
+               , test-framework-th-prime == 0.0.*
+               , mtl == 2.1.*
+               , pipes-core == 0.1.*
+               , pipes-extra == 0.2.*
diff --git a/tests/Tests.hs b/tests/Tests.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Tests.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,175 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE TemplateHaskell #-}
+module Main where
+
+import Control.Exception (SomeException)
+import qualified Control.Exception as E
+import Control.Monad.Reader hiding (reader)
+import Control.Pipe
+import Control.Pipe.Combinators
+import Control.Pipe.Exception
+import qualified Control.Pipe.Binary as PB
+import Data.ByteString (ByteString)
+import qualified Data.ByteString.Char8 as BC
+import Data.IORef
+import Data.List
+import Prelude hiding (catch)
+
+import Test.HUnit
+import Test.Framework.Providers.HUnit
+import Test.Framework.TH.Prime
+
+import System.IO
+
+data Action
+  = OpenFile FilePath IOMode
+  | CloseFile FilePath
+  | CaughtException E.IOException
+  deriving (Eq, Show)
+
+type Report = IORef [Action]
+
+type M = ReaderT Report IO
+
+runPipeM :: Pipeline M r -> IO (Either SomeException r, [Action])
+runPipeM p = do
+  r <- newIORef []
+  result <- E.try $ runReaderT (runPipe p) r
+  acts <- readIORef r
+  return (result, reverse acts)
+
+saveAction :: Action -> M ()
+saveAction act = do
+  r <- ask
+  liftIO . modifyIORef r $ (act:)
+
+open :: FilePath -> IOMode -> M Handle
+open fp mode = do
+  saveAction (OpenFile fp mode)
+  liftIO $ openFile fp mode
+
+close :: FilePath -> Handle -> M ()
+close fp h = do
+  liftIO $ hClose h
+  saveAction (CloseFile fp)
+
+reader :: FilePath -> Producer ByteString M ()
+reader fp = fReader >+> PB.lines
+  where
+    fReader = bracket
+      (open fp ReadMode)
+      (close fp)
+      PB.handleReader
+
+-- line-by-line writer with verbose initializer and finalizer
+writer :: FilePath -> Consumer ByteString M ()
+writer fp = pipe (`BC.snoc` '\n') >+> fWriter
+  where
+    fWriter = do
+      x <- await
+      feed x $
+        bracket
+          (open fp WriteMode)
+          (close fp)
+          PB.handleWriter
+
+equalFiles :: FilePath -> FilePath -> Assertion
+equalFiles fp1 fp2 = do
+  content1 <- readFile fp1
+  content2 <- readFile fp2
+  content1 @=? content2
+
+assertLeft :: Show b => Either a b -> (a -> Assertion) -> Assertion
+assertLeft x f = either f err x
+  where
+    err b = assertFailure $ "expected Left, got " ++ show b
+
+assertRight :: Show a => Either a b -> (b -> Assertion) -> Assertion
+assertRight x f = either err f x
+  where
+    err a = assertFailure $ "expected Right, got " ++ show a
+
+tmpOutput :: FilePath
+tmpOutput = "dist/build/testtmp"
+
+case_cp :: Assertion
+case_cp = do
+  let input = "README.md"
+  (r, acts) <- runPipeM $ reader input >+> writer tmpOutput
+  assertRight r $ \_ -> return ()
+
+  acts @=?
+    [ OpenFile input ReadMode
+    , OpenFile tmpOutput WriteMode
+    , CloseFile input
+    , CloseFile tmpOutput ]
+
+  equalFiles input tmpOutput
+
+isNonexistingException :: SomeException -> Assertion
+isNonexistingException e =
+  "does not exist" `isInfixOf` show e @?
+     "expected 'no such file' exception, "
+           ++ "got " ++ show e
+
+case_unopenable :: Assertion
+case_unopenable = do
+  let input = "README.md"
+      output = "/unopenable/file"
+  (result, acts) <- runPipeM $ reader input >+> writer output
+  assertLeft result isNonexistingException
+
+  acts @=?
+    [ OpenFile input ReadMode
+    , OpenFile output WriteMode
+    , CloseFile input ]
+
+case_join :: Assertion
+case_join = do
+  let input1 = "README.md"
+      input2 = "LICENSE"
+  (r, acts) <- runPipeM $
+        (reader input1 >> reader input2)
+    >+> writer tmpOutput
+  assertRight r $ \_ -> return ()
+
+  acts @=?
+    [ OpenFile input1 ReadMode
+    , OpenFile tmpOutput WriteMode
+    , CloseFile input1
+    , OpenFile input2 ReadMode
+    , CloseFile input2
+    , CloseFile tmpOutput ]
+
+  content1 <- readFile input1
+  content2 <- readFile input2
+  content3 <- readFile tmpOutput
+  content3 @=? content1 ++ content2
+
+case_recover :: Assertion
+case_recover = do
+  let
+    input1 = "README.md"
+    input2 = "/nonexistent/file"
+    safeReader fp = catch (reader fp) $ \e ->
+      lift $ saveAction (CaughtException e)
+
+    isException (CaughtException e) = isNonexistingException (E.toException e)
+    isException x = assertFailure $ "expected exception, got " ++ show x
+
+  (r, acts) <- runPipeM $
+        (safeReader input1 >> safeReader input2)
+    >+> writer tmpOutput
+  assertRight r $ \_ -> return ()
+
+  zipWithM_ (flip ($)) acts
+    [ (@=? OpenFile input1 ReadMode)
+    , (@=? OpenFile tmpOutput WriteMode)
+    , (@=? CloseFile input1)
+    , (@=? OpenFile input2 ReadMode)
+    , isException
+    , (@=? CloseFile tmpOutput) ]
+
+  equalFiles input1 tmpOutput
+
+main :: IO ()
+main = $(defaultMainGenerator)